The invention relates to a sanitary functional unit comprising a sleeve-shaped insert cartridge that can be inserted into the tubular fitting outlet of a sanitary outlet fitting in order to form the emerging water jet. In this case the insert cartridge has a water inflow on at least one of its face sides and a water outlet on the cartridge circumference. In addition, the water outlet has a jet former that has flow guide walls that are oriented transversely and preferably at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the cartridge.
Jet regulators that can be inserted into the water outlet of a sanitary outlet fitting already exist in a variety of embodiments. Such jet regulators are used to form the water emerging from the outlet fitting into a homogenous and/or non-splashing water jet that is an aerated or non-aerated water jet. To this end, the region of the face sided water inflow of the prior art jet regulators exhibits a jet splitter that splits the water flowing into the sleeve-shaped insert cartridge into a plurality of individual jets that are formed again into a homogeneous total jet no later than in the region of the outflow-sided water outlet.
FR 1 600 307 discloses a sanitary functional unit that is configured as a hand-held shower head and has a synthetic resin body that consists of a sub-area configured as a handle and a sub-area serving as the outlet chamber. The interior of the handle contains a metal pipe. A metal intermediate piece that is configured as an insert cartridge is inserted into the sub-area of the metal pipe that faces away from the outlet chamber. The metal intermediate piece has a face sided water inflow, which is connected to the pipe in the handle, and a water outlet that is bent at right angles to said water inflow. However, the functional unit of publication FR 1 600 307 is not configured as a jet regulator that could form a homogeneous and/or non-splashing water jet.
The current trend is to configure sanitary outlet fittings so as to be not only functional, but also aesthetically unique. As a result, there are outlet fittings that have an essentially tubular water outlet, where the outlet mouthpiece is provided on the pipe circumference. Such an outlet mouthpiece requires much effort to accommodate a sleeve-shaped insert cartridge from the side direction.
Therefore, the object of the invention is to provide a jet regulator of the kind that is described in the introductory part and that can also be used advantageously in such areas of application, in order to form a homogeneous and/or non-splashing water jet.
The inventive solution to this problem involves, in particular, of the fact that the insert cartridge has a water inflow on at least one of its face sides and/or that at least one aeration channel is integrated into the insert cartridge.
The functional unit according to the invention has an insert cartridge that can be inserted into the tubular fitting outlet of an outlet fitting and can have a water inflow on its two face sides. In this case the cartridge circumference has a water outlet with a jet former that has flow guide walls that are oriented transversely and preferably at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the cartridge. Therefore, the functional unit according to the invention can deflect the water jet flowing in from the axial direction in such a manner that said water jet can subsequently flow out of the fitting outlet in an almost radial direction. To this end the functional unit according to the invention has primarily a jet former, which is provided in the region of the water outlet and which has flow guide walls that are oriented transversely to the longitudinal axis of the cartridge. At the same time these flow guide walls that are a part of the jet former and that are oriented transversely to the longitudinal axis of the cartridge form an arbitrary outlet structure and surround, for example, a honeycomb-like perforated structure in the water outlet. Since the functional unit according to the invention is oriented, for example, coaxially to the fitting outlet, this functional unit does not project beyond the pipe circumference in an unsightly manner even in the case of a certain installation length. The water inflows that are provided on the two face sides of the insert cartridge allow the use of either the one or the other water inflow as a function of which water inflow is positioned in the inflow direction of the water stream. In addition to or instead of the water inflows provided on the two face sides of the insert cartridge, the above proposed problem can also be solved in that the at least one aeration channel is integrated into the insert cartridge. If the functional unit of the invention includes an aeration channel and this aeration channel is integrated into the insert cartridge, then the jet regulator of the invention can serve as an aerated jet regulator.
In order to be able to retain the dirt particles that may be entrained in the inflowing water before the water flows into the insert cartridge, it is advantageous to provide a pre-screen or dirt screen on the inflow side upstream of at least one water inflow of the insert cartridge.
In this respect the pre-screen can also be replaced or removed, as desired, if the pre-screen(s) can be mounted in a detachable manner on the cartridge housing.
In order to be able to introduce the insert cartridge into the fitting outlet from the direction of the free face side of the fitting outlet and then to be able to also rotate said insert cartridge into the desired position, it is expedient to configure the sleeve-shaped insert cartridge so as to be closed on its face end facing away from the water inflow and/or it is expedient for the sleeve-shaped insert cartridge to exhibit a tool engagement area for a screwdriver or rotating tool.
An especially advantageous further development of the invention provides that each of the two face sides of the insert cartridge has a water inflow. The improved embodiment allows, as required, the use of either the one or the other water inflow as a function of which water inflow is positioned in the inflow direction of the water stream.
Working on this basis, it is especially advantageous to configure the insert cartridge as a replacement cartridge that has a water inflow on each of its face sides, and to provide the water inflows, which are provided on the opposite sides of the insert cartridge, for a plurality of water pressure conditions, flow rates and the like water properties of the inflowing and/or outflowing water. In this way such insert cartridges can be used to change and vary the water properties. In order to vary the water properties, it is possible, for example, to combine the water inflows, provided on the opposite face sides of the insert cartridge, with different pre-screens, flow rate regulators, flow limiters, jet splitters, homogenization units and/or jet formers. In this respect the different components that are used on the opposite face sides can exhibit a color code that facilitates the assignment and differentiation of even such components that exhibit the same function to, for example, individual flow or performance classes.
Depending on the application, the functional unit of the invention can be configured as an aerated or non-aerated jet regulator. Insofar as the functional unit of the invention is configured as an aerated jet regulator, then it may be advantageous to provide at least one aeration channel that empties into the outflow-sided region of at least one jet splitter. In this respect a preferred embodiment of the invention provides that at least the one aeration channel is integrated into the insert cartridge and/or that the channel inlet of at least one aeration channel is provided in the cartridge end that faces away from the water inflow.
In order to be able to construct the functional unit of the invention as a modular design, it is expedient to be able to insert in a detachable manner the jet former into the water outlet of the insert cartridge.
Working on this basis, a preferred embodiment of the invention provides that the region of the water outlet exhibits an interior thread, in which the jet former, which is configured preferably as an insert component, can be fastened in a detachable manner by means of an exterior thread.
Similarly an especially preferred embodiment of the functional unit of the invention can provide that at least one additional jet-forming unit can be connected to the jet former. This additional jet-forming unit conforms with the contour of the pipe recess of the fitting outlet in the region in which the jet emerges so that the result is a cylindrical circumference of the outlet pipe that satisfies the high aesthetic requirements, because the outlet pipe exhibits a continuous cylindrical contour that is interrupted by the flow channels of the superstructure only in the region in which the water emerges.
The jet splitter of the functional unit of the invention can be configured, for example, as a diffuser. In order, however, to limit the number of noise-inducing flow deflections, it can be expedient to configure the jet regulator as a perforated plate. In this case a preferred embodiment of the invention provides that the jet splitter is held in a detachable manner in the insert cartridge.
Other embodiments of the invention are apparent from the claims and the drawings. The invention is explained in detail below with reference to the preferred embodiments.